Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2001 14:39:44 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Rick Sussman Subject: Sightings for Saturday Dec. 1 Comments: To: voice@capaccess.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I birded with a friend along Zion Rd. and Rachel Carson Park on Saturday, Dec. 1 and had a couple of unusual sightings. First, as we were walking into the main road at Rachel Carson, many flocks of Canada Geese were wheeling overhead, heading out to feeding territories. As we scanned each flock looking for something other than CAGO, another smaller flock of white birds was up and heading SW. My first thought was of swans, since I have only seen small numbers this season, but they turned out to be SNOW GEESE, 13 of them! This is the largest flock I've had in Montgomery County, usually seeing only individuals. In the park itself, we found good numbers of Fox Sparrows, with a group of 6 in one small patch of prime habitat by the pond (inside the park). There is a wetland area below the pond, on the right side if you are facing the pond walking in from Zion Rd. (this is the pond in the park itself, not Zion Rd. pond), where we found a perching EASTERN PHOEBE. Since it was 70 degrees yesterday, it hardly seemed out of place. On Zion Rd. pond Saturday, there were 26 Hooded Mergansers (and more than 30 on Sunday morning!). Also on Sunday (Dec. 2), there were at least 9 Snow Geese on the farm pond south of Zion Rd. pond, between Riggs Rd. and Gregg Rd. (and west of Zion Rd.), with at least one being a Blue Phase. These were likely some of the same flock from Saturday. This pond can only be partially viewed by pulling off the shoulder of Zion Rd. opposite a horse farm. Rick Sussman Ashton,MD warblerick@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================